Basketball Victoria launch campaign to protect referees under the age of 18

Aiming to provide an appropriate environment for referees under the age of 18, Basketball Victoria is deploying a simple identifier- the Green Whistle - as part of a new campaign specifically targeted at the basketball community.

Basketball Victoria expects that all referees are respected, however acknowledges that making more of an effort to behave appropriately around referees who are children is essential to their wellbeing. Unfortunately, we cannot tell if a referee is over or under the age of 18 just by looking at them or by judging their ability, so we have created a simple identifier- the Green Whistle.

Within Basketball Victoria's referee cohort, over 50% are under the age of 18. Therefore, it is inevitable that some of these children are being exposed and subject to negative behaviour in an environment that is meant to be safe and supportive. Adults that lose perspective in a competitive environment can have harmful effects on the participants, specifically those who are under the age of 18.

General Manager of Technical Officials Jo Chu explains “Victoria is privileged to have very talented referees who just happen to be under the age of 18, similar to our talented athletes under the age of 18. Our responsibility is to ensure we protect our young people to safeguard the future success of our sport”. 

Basketball Victoria highlight “Community sport relies heavily on referees under the age of 18 both from an economic and logistical point of view. If we relied on adults only to referee games, we would have to increase the cost to participants significantly. We also know that we don’t have access to enough adults to service the 450,000 games Victoria hosts at a community level each year.

“Understanding that we rely on referees under the age of 18 to allow us to enjoy the sport we love means we have a strong responsibility to ensure they are protected and feel safe.”